Dumbed Down's letter and its counterpart are a set up. It's just too much of a coincidence that both Dumbed Down and her three co-workers all know about Slate and read Dear Prudence. Also, the structure of both letters is nearly identical--as if the same people wrote both letters and tried to make sure that Prudie would connect the two. It's just all a little bit too smart.

I don't think Prudie herself wrote the second letter--why would she do that in place of writing under her own name? On the other hand, if the other letter does happen to be real (we will never know), then Prudie has done a good job of making sure that that particular office will be a really, really unpleasant place to work.

but the second was Prudie's reply.

Uhhh . . . the second letter was Prudie's response. Instead of telling her she's a b***chy snob she wrote a "second letter" so the smarty pants could figure it out on her own.

hansel,

Are you serious when you say these letters were a coincidence, or are you trying to make some kind of point I'm not getting? Of course Prudie wrote the second letter...it's called satire and sarcasm. She is making a point to Dumbed Down that she is a condescending snob. Sometimes people need to be treated the way they are treating others to see how unacceptable their own behavior is.

Brava, Prudie, for such an excellent answer. Best post I've seen in a long while!

Just think about it a moment...

At the risk of being obtuse, are you trying to slyly imply that Ms. Yoffe wrote the first letter, too?

Hahahaha- Hansel- you are one DUMB mofo.

I can't believe anyone needed that explained to them! Irony is lost on so many, though.

hehehe. This is cute thread, and nicely relates to the topic!

Let's be generous and assume that Hansel is suffering a temporary caffeine deficit. What's more interesting is the eagerness with which everyone piled on (and let's include the gleeful venom in Prudie's response as well).

Truth is, such people as the original Prudie letter writer, who confuse mastery of the latest "conventional wisdom" and pop "it" stuff with intelligence/knowledge, are sad and pathetic victims of this culture's hypnotic fascination with the superficial.

Isn't Prudie's glee and some thread-poster's eagerness to spring their "gotchas" a part of the same superficiality?

Wow Hansel, your response is making me feel dumb because I thought all along that Prudie's response WAS the letter from the 3 office workers in an effort to mock someone who is completely full of herself, hence the keyword "knowledgeable" in the intro to her response.

Has our national IQ really dropped this far?

It's times like this I really, really, REALLY can't fault the letter-sender for her superiority complex.

hansel:

Dumbed Down's letter and its counterpart are a set up. It's just too much of a coincidence that both Dumbed Down and her three co-workers all know about Slate and read Dear Prudence. Also, the structure of both letters is nearly identical--as if the same people wrote both letters and tried to make sure that Prudie would connect the two. It's just all a little bit too smart.

I don't think Prudie herself wrote the second letter--why would she do that in place of writing under her own name? On the other hand, if the other letter does happen to be real (we will never know), then Prudie has done a good job of making sure that that particular office will be a really, really unpleasant place to work.

Wow Hansel! lol. You're right, I wouldn't want to work there either! lol

I suspect/hope that hansel is trying to trick us into being as superior and high handed with him as that woman was with her co-workers.